Drawing.

Use the figures of Raphael and Michelangelo, and the antiques of Perrier as models. One should also use the works of Annibale Carracci, whose design is somewhat surprising; his galleries are very useful for the study discussed here, as are Raphael's suites and other Vatican paintings, which have been drawn and engraved by various masters. Additionally, one should completely ban from the school methods of copying by using gridlines, tracing designs or prints, or taking impressions on glass: all these mechanical inventions are obstacles to the progress of youth, and should be left to the ignorant, or to those who draw for their own pleasure.

The proposed method requires a long study and can only be put into practice by employing several years; but it is also the most certain way to become skilled in drawing. Thus, when one is capable of accurately copying their original with precision, they can then draw from relief or the figure in relief. This study is necessary to understand the effect of shadows and light, to give relief to parts that need it, and to perfect the contours of figures. This is why one must start with beautiful plaster heads, feet, and hands molded on antiques, and later proceed to entire figures. The Author of a treatise on Painting, printed in Toulouse at the beginning of this century, advises a particular method (a).

(a) One might object to this Author (M. Bernard du Puy du Grez) that if the light is too soft, muscles and other details will not be noticeable enough for a student, who does not yet recognize them, to discover them, and it is precisely for this reason that he is made to draw from relief, so that he learns to recognize them in nature where they are often less visible.

Translation Notes:

- "Drawing from relief" translates from "dessiner d'après la bosse," implying drawing from a raised surface or three-dimensional form.